Hoop-skirt



(No Model.)

- B. S. REED.

HOOP SKIRT. No. 323,963. Patented Aug. 11, 1885.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BEVERLY S. REED, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

HOOP-SK|RT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 328,963, dated August 11, 1885.

Application filed May 20,1885.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BEVERLY S. REED, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk, State of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Hoop-Skirts, of which the following is a description, sut'iiciently full, clear, and exact to enable any person skilled in the art or science to which said invention appertains to make and use the same, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawing, forming part of this specification, in which The figure is an isometrical perspective view of my improved skirt.

My invention'relates to that class of hoopskirts which are provided with bustles; and it consists in a novel construction and arrangement of the parts, as hereinafter more fully set forth and claimed, the object being to provide a more desirable article of this character than is now in ordinary use.

The nature and operation of the improvement will be readily understood by all conversant with such matters from the following explanation In the drawings, A represents the skirt proper, and B the bustle.

The bustle consists of the waistband or belt O, provided with the buckle 00, the vertically-arranged tapes f, and ribs D. The upper ends of the tapesfare secured to the waistband O, and the ribs D secured to the tapes in the usual manner, the ribs being cut of suitable lengths to give the proper contour or shape to the bustle, and having their ends secured in sockets E. A diaphragm or partition, H, composed of cloth, is stretched across the bustle between its side walls, being secured to the ribs D by lacings l, the partition rest ing upon the underskirts when the bustle is in use, and thereby keeping it in proper position.

(No model.)

The skirt A is composed of the hoops J and tapes d d z z y. The tapes dhave their upper ends secured to the waist-band near its free ends at t; but the tape 3 has its upper end secured at v to the lower end of the central tape fot' the bustle B. The tapes 2 are carried upwardly inside the ribs D of the bustle, over the diaphragm or partition H, and have their upper ends secured to the waistband O in such a manner as to enable said tapes to swing freely between said ribs and partition, and thereby permit the skirt A to adjust itself more readily beneath the outer skirts when in use than it would if all of the tapes 1 2 were secured to the lower ends of the tapes f; but the tapes .2 may be securedto the lower ends of the tapes f, or may be carried up over the inner side of the partition H, instead of the outer side, and secured to the band C, if desired.

I am aware that the bustle, consisting of s the waistband O, tapes f, ribs D, sockets E, and partition H, is not new; also that a skirt having horizontally-arranged hoops J, connected by vertically-arranged tapes, is old, and I do not therefore claim the same, broadly, herein; but,

Having thus explained my invention, what BEVERLY S. REED.

Witnesses: t

G. A. SHAW, L. J. WHITE. 

